tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62552668395709785332018-08-28T08:46:12.513-07:00The Unseen Production BlogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-74443589052169124282014-03-16T21:30:00.002-07:002014-03-16T21:30:15.720-07:00Update Week 07All hands on deck! This week's update features the protagonists' hand - it now exists , animates correctly for the most part. From here on, we're going to focus on mastering the protagonist's hand and animations along with building and texturing more models. Because the player will spend so much time seeing the hand and arm, we have to make sure both look and feel as natural as possible.&nbsp;<div><br /></div><div>The build can be found <a href="https://drive.google.com/#folders/0B1x8EEg1JzNYNkR3ZnNnc2tTSm8" target="_blank">here</a>. Remember to download both, but only run the html file.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-7627520129238661502014-03-16T21:13:00.000-07:002014-03-16T21:30:27.679-07:00Week 06 BuildThis week's build brings about a slew of visual upgrades. First, we're now using a new set of lights we purchased from the asset store. The new lighting effects are much more realistic looking than the standard ones Unity includes, but they come at a slight performance hit. For now, they're going to be kept until they become an issue on the laptop Intel has provided for us. This week's build also has some new models of various world items, a much more fleshed-out ICU (which will also serve as the tutorial), and various other improvements.<br /><br />The files needed to play can be downloaded <a href="https://drive.google.com/#folders/0B1x8EEg1JzNYTzd6OFZqSXc3OUU" target="_blank">here</a>. After downloading, just run the html file!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-84822943406130387982014-03-16T15:38:00.003-07:002014-03-16T15:38:08.495-07:00Week 05 BuildAnother week, another build! This week's build features better lighting, but not much else functionality-wise. The teams are busy on programming new functionality and creating new models, including the alien. The game can be downloaded <a href="https://drive.google.com/#folders/0B41wIT065WRQV25aeV9LaTN1VkU" target="_blank">here </a>- make sure to download both, and run the html file.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-59320120911736881762014-03-16T14:56:00.002-07:002014-03-16T14:56:58.830-07:00Week 04 BuildWeek 4 is the first week we have an actual, playable build since we basically started the project from scratch this term.<br /><br />In this build, we have crafted a level that was designed by Kenneth and Jon. The amount of lighting is very low, as we want darkness to be a strong aspect of the game. This build also shows off our use of substances, which are lightweight and easily modifiable textures. These were purchased from the Unity store, and are used to texture all walls and floors.<br /><br />The build can be found on our Google drive <a href="https://drive.google.com/#folders/0B41wIT065WRQSlNFbDBsZEw0Tms" target="_blank">here</a>. Make sure to download both files, and start the game by using the html file.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-17755981057003687252014-01-27T21:36:00.000-08:002014-02-09T21:41:29.663-08:00Welcome to Part 2 of DevelopmentThis project was chosen to continue for the next subsequent term to be worked on by both sections of the class. This blog will serve to document the progress of the game, with notes on weekly builds, design decisions across the board, presentations, the game design document, and more!&nbsp;Due to the sheer size of the team (and the amount of meeting minutes that go along with the team!), we have decided to house the notes elsewhere.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Now that the team has expanded, we hope to make significant progress on <i>The Unseen</i>&nbsp;in the coming weeks with the goal of polishing the game for the Game Developer's Conference in March. Until next time!</div>Anna Nguyenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02642906990094974075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-85289325384676140252013-12-12T08:31:00.003-08:002013-12-12T08:31:48.268-08:00TrailerLast night I put the finishing touches on the first draft of our Trailer! Future drafts hopefully will implement motion graphics.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Du1RH5vPb30?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0' /></div><br />Ethan F Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16701720071769352485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-4651055416452893012013-12-11T18:13:00.004-08:002013-12-11T19:51:32.912-08:00Post Mortem and Moving Forward<div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 18px;"><b>Post Mortem</b></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Each member of the group was tasked with posting their thoughts about the good and bad aspects of this term. There is of course additional feedback (view-able&nbsp;below), but the summarized version of these results are as follows:</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;"><b>The Good</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b>Dylan Yates - </b>The entire team has agreed that Dylan was definitely one of the biggest factors leading to the success of this project.&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">He did a disproportionally large amount of work, and that was due to our extreme&nbsp;confidence&nbsp;in&nbsp;his ability to use Unity. Without him, the project just wouldn't be what it is now, and we owe him big time.</span></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b>Steady progress, regardless of setbacks - W</b></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">e had a new build each week that was noticeably improved over the previous week's. Regardless of assets being late or not turned in at all, we were able to push forward. This gave us a huge confidence boost as we moved forward. This was</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">&nbsp;definitely the result of good team work and time management on an individual level, as well as group-wide.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b>Good overall team flow - </b></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">This is broken up into a few categories.</span></span><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Casual communication - Our group seemed to meld together very well. It didn't seem like anyone was afraid to put their voice into the project, and we were able to communicate well because of this. There were some issues, as any group will face, but we were able to overcome them and deliver a great final product.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Group diversity - We had a large enough group to give each person a specialized role. This allowed everyone to contribute their best skills to the project instead of having to take time to learn something they weren't necessarily as comfortable with.&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">In a fast paced project like this, we didn't always have the luxury of spending a week or two to learn something new.</span></span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Individual Cooperation - Our team did a pretty good job working together and getting stuff done for most of us having not worked with one another before. There were of course issues at times, but even then the issues didn't completely stop the flow of workand could have been much worse. For the most part, we met all of our deadlines and provided high quality work, and we are proud that our team was able to do that.</span></li></ul></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;" /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;"><b>The Bad</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><b>Level Design and Audio&nbsp;</b>- We didn't have a designated level designer or sound person. The level design was mostly a team error, with no one wanting to take the lead on it, but we were not assigned a sound person and had to find someone outside of the class. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Due to the lack of a dedicated game designer, the final game level is a little dry. Without a dedicated audio designer, we also missed out on a lot of atmospheric tension.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><b style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Management and team&nbsp;consistency -&nbsp;</span></b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">This is more of an overall disappointment in Evan and myself rather than the rest of the team. There were times earlier on where we think we didn't micromanage as much as we should have, and it may have ended up hurting the quality of the project at times. This is could be due to our inexperience with managing, but personally there were times when I didn't want to push other teammates to the point of them getting frustrated with me. I thought that this would break the flow of the team and be detrimental to our success. We now know that that is the curse of being in a management position, however, and we&nbsp;definitely&nbsp;stepped up our game towards the end of the term.</span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">A few things that should have been stressed early on:</span></span><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Naming conventions - Most of the people ignored the naming conventions that we agree on. It didn't show the downside now, because we don't have too many assets. It would become more and more of a problem as the project goes on.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Strict deadlines - There were issues with getting things turned in on time to the point where a formal policy had to be written up.&nbsp;This led to situations where code might not work with the newest assets.&nbsp;Path-finding&nbsp;was a large problem, with Ryan rarely having enough time to&nbsp;re-calibrate&nbsp;after new level designs were&nbsp;made.&nbsp;This left Dylan with barely enough time to pump out a build, and even&nbsp;less time for playtesting and creating presentations based on the results.</span></span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Communication - This was one of our biggest problems early on. At times, it wasn't clear what people were supposed to be working on and when it came to the time it was due, nothing was handed in. Eventually we figured out that all of our communications needed to be posted publicly so everyone knew what needed to get done.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Distributing work - It seemed at times that not everyone was putting in the same amount of time and effort into the project. This may have been due to an individual just not performing as well as they could, but there was also a lack of even distribution. This is not entirely due to the group communication, there were just times when something came up on the fly and it was just decided by someone to do it themselves rather than send it to someone else in the group.</span></li></ul><b style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Git -&nbsp;</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">We had our fair share of technical difficulties with Git and Unity. Doing pretty much anything with Git would involve the repository getting messed up and we were forced to re-clone it. There was also the issue of Git not knowing how to handle merging Unity binary files Each time someone wanted to work on the project they had to notify everyone else to make sure no one was working on it, then they had to manually download the latest version, make their edits, and re-post. Git worked well for scripts, but since Dylan and Ryan's work rarely overlapped, we didn't get to leverage that. Git also worked very poorly for models, given the nature of their file structure.</span></div><div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Overall, the group agrees that we worked together well. And even though we had our issues, it was definitely as great learning experience for all of us.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Moving Forward</b></span></div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Our group met up for a discussion on what we would like to see moving forward.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b>Administrative</b></span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Spend a week going through the project to clean everything out and fix up any inconsistencies.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Master asset list.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Team communications need to be improved.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Stricter deadlines.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Plan for when people miss deadline.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Stronger structure.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Teamwork PM rather than Facebook.</span></li></ul><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Art</span></b><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Art "manager" to ensure consistent art direction</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Naming conventions need to be followed.</span></li></ul><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Programming</span></b><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A list of what we need to program to distribute work better.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Comment code.</span></li></ul><b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">General</span></b><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Have the Creature setting "seeds" or something to that effect, making it evident to the player that they are trying to cultivate the station for themselves to live in.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Puzzles.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">More interesting environments.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Multiple monster types.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Better "cat and mouse" mechanics</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Audio! Consistent and higher quality audio. We need a full audio director/engineer.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dedicated time to meet up and work together.</span></li></ul></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-85445668351233300042013-12-11T17:12:00.000-08:002013-12-11T17:12:12.676-08:00Creature Animation Review<span id="docs-internal-guid-3b9aa65f-e4fd-3e22-ad22-5a395571f8ed"><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The creatures will have six limbs, not including the tail. The two closest to its head will operate primarily like arms and be used for attacking while the hind four will be used to scurry around the station. It will be able to raise its head to approximately 8’, or keep it low to the ground. This variety should add tension as the creatures is able to raise its head to spot the player, or remain low and out of sight as it searches. &nbsp;It was modeled in Modo with an emphasis on modelling for animation. Edge-flow allowed for proper deformation in all six extremities as well as the two torsos. Revisions had to be made to shorten the back section of the monster in order to work with the pathfinding programming. This ended up helping to reduce polycount which was another issue that arose during development.</span></span><br /><span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span><span style="font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For future work, creating character sets to allow for all animation to be brought into a single file will be considered from the start. I was unaware of this technique until the issue of having multiple animation files arose at the. There are other ways around it but they were not compatible with the programming structure in place. </span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-7893448674565964282013-12-10T09:10:00.001-08:002013-12-10T09:10:59.182-08:00Ethan: Post MortemThe Goods<br /><br />Talented Technicians- Our comp sci. team was quite a talented bunch and managed to implement a variety of features and consistently make them work. Dylan Yates and Ryan both did an impressive job. I'm not positive of Cory was a coder as my work rarely coincided with his but if so no doubt he did an admirable job as well.<br /><br />Solid Art Style- Between Don's research into modular level design, solid hallways and rooms, Jon's awesome monster, Miguel's well textured light emitting device and my rooms and assets we had a really good style and atmosphere that I think was one of our strongest suits when combined with the powerhouse programming and game design.<br /><br />Good Management- Cory Dylan and Even were fantastic managers and did a great job maintaining a steady stream of communication in terms of what needed to get done when.<br /><br />The Bad<br /><br />Timing- This term took place in the middle of coop season for many of the students within the class and I believe that contributed to at least for parts of the term some people being less dedicated than others. Interviews also slowed down our progress over the last few weeks of the term<br /><br />Level Design- We didn't have a clear lead level designer because no one stepped up to the mantel for whatever reason. I hope to be able to work on this if we continue to move the project forward. Dylan Yates gets mention for doing a damn fine job anyway despite that he was doing so much programming.<br /><br />Audio- We also lacked a solid committed audio designer. We made due still, but missed out on a lot of atmosphere and tension that could have been utilized.Ethan F Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16701720071769352485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-85840334735523365082013-12-09T13:04:00.002-08:002013-12-09T13:04:49.640-08:00Evan: PostmortemThings are coming to a close this week and it's time to do a brief personal postmortem. We decided each person should individually write a mini version, and we'd bring together our ideas for a longer one.<br /><br /><b>The Good</b><br /><br /><ul><li><b>Not being overly ambitious:</b>&nbsp;Early on, we took a pragmatic approach with what we could and couldn't do in ten weeks. This paid off big time. We didn't over-promise too much, and we defined an idea that we could - and did- build.</li><li><b>Regardless of short term setbacks, we improved: </b>Each week, we had a new build that was noticeably improved than the previous. Regardless of assets being late or not turned in at all, our weekly build improved.</li><li><b>Dylan Yates: </b>He did an unproportional amount of work, and without him the project wouldn't be what it was. Dylan, if our project moves forward, I promise this will be fixed!</li></ul><div><b>The Bad</b></div><div><ul><li><b>Management: </b>This is more of a disappointment in myself rather than the rest of the team. There were times where I didn't micromanage enough and it ended up hurting the quality of the project at times.</li><li><b>Not having a (used) master asset list:</b>&nbsp;This would have been helpful to have for obvious reasons. I created a master list late in the project, and it was unfinished and unused. We should have created and maintained a list earlier in development. This is necessary should our project move forward.</li><li><b>Deadlines being missed: </b>This was stressful for a few reasons. When things are late, I had to go find out &nbsp;the reason why and when they'd be in. When it became a problem, I had to be Mr. Manager and give serious talks. That wasn't fun.</li></ul></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-43187858068516826512013-12-09T11:14:00.002-08:002013-12-09T12:25:00.465-08:00Don: The Unseen Termly Post MortemWe have pretty good turn out over last 11 weeks. We started from a vague idea of making a horror game to fully developed vertical slide. There were definitely things worked well and things to improve. Personally, I'm glad that I can deliver an art style that is not what I would usually do and still appropriate to the concept of the game.<br /><div><br /></div><div>The Good:</div><div><br /></div><div>1) We have steady progress on our game each week. Each week we have more about our game to show and each week the game gets better. It's definitely the result of good team work and good time management on individual level. It also give us confidence as the project moves forward.</div><div><br /></div><div>2) We spend enough time making the actual in-game assets, which also result in a better developed visual. It relates to the point above. I researched on modular environment design and decided it would be the best solution to deliver a large and explorable environment with less work on making the actual 3d models. We spent 4 weeks on making the 3d geometries and 4 weeks on texturing and 1 week or so on lighting. It's a pretty good scheduling.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Bad:</div><div><br /></div><div>1) Name conventions. Most of the people ignored the naming conventions that we agree on. It didn't show the downside now, because we don't have too many assets. It would become more and more of a problem as the project goes on.</div><div><br /></div><div>2) Game design. We don't have a dedicated game designer on the team, which result in the final game is really dry. With that said, maybe we have some resources inefficiency issues, too. Since some teammates only committed no more than 3 hours of their time some of the weekly.&nbsp;</div>Don Xuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468881990877263398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-53897973345865637462013-12-08T23:03:00.001-08:002013-12-09T12:25:28.874-08:00Jon: Post MortemThe Good:<br /><br />Casual Communication - through facebook and after class.<br /><br />We were able to begin iteration early which helped compensate for a lack of predetermined gameplay design.<br /><br />Dylan Yates<br /><br />The Bad:<br /><br />There were issues with getting things turned in with enough time to pump out a build, then playtest and create presentations based on the playtest results.<br /><br />We didn't have anyone to design the game.<br /><br />Git<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-63725980229353635942013-12-08T12:20:00.000-08:002013-12-09T12:25:45.753-08:00Dylan: Postmortem<h3>The Good...</h3><br /><ul><li>We had enough people to give each person a specialized role. &nbsp;This allowed everyone to contribute their best skills to project instead of people having to take time to learn new skills. &nbsp;In a fast paced project like this we didn't have the luxury of spending a week or two to learn new skills.</li><li>Our team actually did a pretty good job working together and getting stuff done. &nbsp;That wasn't true all of the time but things could have been much worse, especially when you look at some of the other groups. &nbsp;For the most part we met all of our deadlines and provided high quality work, and I'm proud that our team was able to do that.</li></ul><br /><h3>&nbsp;The Bad...</h3><br /><br /><ul><li>Communication was one of our biggest problems early on. &nbsp;It wasn't clear what people were supposed to be working on and when it was due so we ran into a few situations where work didn't get done. &nbsp;Eventually we figured out that all of our communications needed to be posted publicly so everyone knew what needed to get done.</li><li>Not everyone put in the same amount of effort into this project. &nbsp;Some members of the team were very passionate about the project and went above and beyond to make the game better. &nbsp;Others only did the bare minimum of what they were assigned to do or submitted substandard work. &nbsp;It would have been nice to see each member of the team put in a comparable amount of effort into this.</li><li>We had our fair share of technical difficulties with Git and Unity. &nbsp;Doing pretty much anything with Git would involve the Git repository getting messed up and being forced to reclone it. &nbsp;Also we weren't able to use the main purpose of Git since we cannot merge Unity binary files. &nbsp;Every time someone wanted to work on the Unity project they had to notify everyone else to make sure no one else was working on it.&nbsp;</li></ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-24953434790929879942013-12-08T09:57:00.001-08:002013-12-09T12:24:41.122-08:00Ryan: Programming Post-Mortem<h2>The Good</h2><h3>C#</h3><div>I was concerned about writing this project in C#, because previously I had only coded Unity projects in Unityscript, and didn't know C#. &nbsp;However, the anecdote of "if you know Java, you know C#" was true, and we were able to write much more robust code by using C#.</div><h3>The Playtesting</h3><div>We did a great job of iterative design and responding to frequent player issues. &nbsp;Many of the final "variables" such as player speed, sprint behavior, and enemy speeds were all perfected by playtesting. &nbsp;Other features that were inspired heavily by playtesting results include the voiceovers, the tutorials, and some of the configuration options.</div><h3>The Process</h3><div>Code goes in on Sunday, Assets go in on Tuesday, Playtesting build goes up on Wednesday. &nbsp;It was a tight schedule and it didn't leave too much time for wiggle room, but we were consistent, we followed it, and we made it work.</div><div><br /></div><h2>The Bad</h2><h3>Git</h3><div>The choice to use Git was largely my fault, because the rest of the team was largely inexperienced with using any source control, and I made the decision to work with Git because it was the only one I was familiar with (and I have heard bad things about Perforce). &nbsp;Git worked well for the scripts, but since Dylan and I rarely had work that overlapped, we didn't get to leverage that. &nbsp;Git also worked very poorly for scenes and models, given the nature of their file structure. &nbsp;Because the team as a whole lacked experience with Git, we frequently had to re-clone the repository, and couldn't simply check in and check out the project.</div><h3>The Schedule</h3><div>Often times, the code was handed in on Sunday, but the assets and levels were not made until Tuesday. &nbsp;This led to situations where code might not work with the newest assets, or something might not look right (a prime example of this was pathfinding, I would rarely have time to recalibrate it after new level designs were made)</div><h3>Windows 8.1</h3><div>Partway through the project, I upgraded to Windows 8.1. &nbsp;This tanked compatibility with Unity 4.2, and made progress much slower. &nbsp;Eventually, I upgraded to 4.3, not realizing it would break backwards compatibility, and forcing other teammates to upgrade as well.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-45633902631989171902013-12-05T07:44:00.003-08:002013-12-05T07:45:18.239-08:00Week 10/11 FeedbackMostly minor things. General feed back was that the game looks really good.<br /><br />Sell Presentation:<br /><br /><ul><li>Elaborate more on audience</li><li>Why should someone play our game vs other games?</li><li>Possibly go from demo to more detail about the game</li><li>Talk about future plans</li><li>Address replayability and game time</li><li>Talked about LEG before it was introduced. Stop that.</li><ul><li>And stop saying gun.</li></ul><li>Add to intro slides "All you have is a flashlight"</li><li>Address why the player isn't shooting the Alien in the demo. Say this in presentation.</li><li>Almost too easy to power Reactor, add more of a challenge.</li><li>More creature noises. We don't want them sneaking up from behind.</li></ul>Scrum:<br /><ul><li>Sound is weak, improve both effects and as a mechanic (not for next week, but term)</li><li>GDD isn't just what you've done, but where you're taking the game. What enhancements are coming?</li><li>Address player feedback in the presentation. Give summaries of feedback, and tell us where the game is going.</li></ul><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Note: Maybe we could make it so that the Creature hates light and wants to destroy it/put it out? This would explain why he follows light orbs. We could eventually have an animation of a creature ripping a power station out of the wall. That would be cool.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-58477727478649558372013-11-24T16:22:00.001-08:002013-12-05T07:45:42.336-08:00Diefenbucks DistributionThe current distributions for our Diefenbucks can be found on <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Antk84zJq3kfdHd5ZFU5dVdodHVLcHVXZWdrV3FNRVE&amp;usp=sharing" target="_blank">this spreadsheet</a>. The spreadsheet is updated every time we receive our weekly totals.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-16329680895054560702013-11-24T16:08:00.000-08:002013-12-05T07:47:17.746-08:00Team CommunicationsAfter being instructed that we should have our communications archived and in a more public domain, I will be working over the next week to transfer our communications from the facebook group to a new tab on this web page.<br /><br />I will create a new blog post for each week's communications up to and including the current week, and will be encouraging the other members to post any updates they have on this new page.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-52472854123322855932013-11-22T07:44:00.001-08:002013-11-22T07:45:01.048-08:0011/21 Class MinutesToday's is a big update! Our game is coming along nicely and nearly finished. We have some heavy texturing to do, some sound changes, and polish - but we're nearly there. We presented an early version of our final sell presentation today, along with our newest build. We got great feedback and positive input, and it felt really great to finally hear that our product is become impressive.<br /><br />Here's the notes I took today on both our sell presentation and our game demo.<br /><br />Sell feedback (The number corresponds with the slide number)<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2. Make the 'imagine' parts pop up one at a time<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3. after 'you hear noise', jump to 'now you're on a spaceship'. Not straight to Game Start screen.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4. After 'on a ship', then game screen.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5. ??<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>6. Blend art and story here, don't separate. Incorporate screenshots. This goes for other slides too<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7. Intended audience is good, just put intended rating as well<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>8. Introduce character &gt; story &gt; what player doing &gt; intended audience (in that order)<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>9. Don't list individually. Maybe ditch slide. As we put images, we can mention some of these things. Demonstrate these, don't list. Video?<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>10. Include this on the story<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>11. Include this after story? Gameplay slide? Can go into small detail as to how the creature is finding you (heatmap)<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>12. Great slide. Maybe get scale, get better pose of Henry. However, this is a little deceptive to in game - creature seems smaller in game than this screen. Reared up pose in game to demonstrate size and fear?<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>13. don't break this out. concept art is great, try to get matching screen shot. This doesn't need its own slide, should be in gameplay explanation<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>14. This screen shot could go with story. don't title 'Demo Scenario'<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>15. good, same as above<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>16. this shouldnt be seperate slide. incorporate these slides throughout<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>17. get updated gun model. ditch concept art. this goes with gameplay, doesn't need its own slide. Have gun pictured with energy pickups, show they work together.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>18. have gameplay demo, then Question?<br /><br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>-&nbsp;Less lists and back and forth<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>-&nbsp;Video right before game screen? Want to give them sense of fear before game screen.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>-&nbsp;Too much back and forth between story and gameplay, have it flow better.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- If we show Henry, needs better poses and look.<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>-&nbsp;Introduce Henry before explicit story. explain why he's the only one. show game screen, then talk about Genry and why he's only one there<br />Demo<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>-&nbsp;Audio/visual clue when pickup ammo<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>-&nbsp;More monster audio<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Make generator spin, turn on lights? make it more obvious that its now on. give more payoff, a clue as to what's next? cliffhanger!<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Footsteps frequency needs to be upped<br /><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>-&nbsp;More scares! valves and pipes bursting? lights that were on turning off?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-2813573532966496402013-11-20T22:09:00.000-08:002013-11-20T22:09:22.686-08:00Level Design UpdateAfter a few rocky starts the final drafts of specialized rooms are being implemented in the overall level design. The Lab, The Bridge, and The Biodome are some of the varied environments the player comes across during their quest to save the doomed ship. Also seen are some attractive shots of our main protagonist<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXvCvDf3n8c/Uo2jf0ZsAbI/AAAAAAAAABg/KT0skJsN81Q/s1600/BDRIGE+1+SCREEN.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WXvCvDf3n8c/Uo2jf0ZsAbI/AAAAAAAAABg/KT0skJsN81Q/s320/BDRIGE+1+SCREEN.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cBCOXRFrwnU/Uo2jgU6-8eI/AAAAAAAAABs/p30xbszQ9mI/s1600/bIODOME+1+SCREEN.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cBCOXRFrwnU/Uo2jgU6-8eI/AAAAAAAAABs/p30xbszQ9mI/s320/bIODOME+1+SCREEN.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eBKsYeaxIS8/Uo2jgfJXV-I/AAAAAAAAABw/wDYmTlwL1ac/s1600/lab+1+screen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eBKsYeaxIS8/Uo2jgfJXV-I/AAAAAAAAABw/wDYmTlwL1ac/s320/lab+1+screen.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mbQkZ80eECU/Uo2jf7CYUZI/AAAAAAAAABk/_i1ingUtZYI/s1600/Lab+2+screen.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mbQkZ80eECU/Uo2jf7CYUZI/AAAAAAAAABk/_i1ingUtZYI/s320/Lab+2+screen.png" width="320" /></a></div>.Ethan F Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16701720071769352485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-85722278048912763352013-11-11T12:46:00.000-08:002013-11-13T18:27:17.864-08:00Changing on texturing<div style="text-align: center;">Thank to CrazyBump, I don't need to do a lot of the shading and bumping by myself.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">That's why I'm trying to add OCC map to the texture and hope that it would make the result more polished.<br /><br />OCC map makes everything looks more dirty, when doing modular level building , dirty is good, because you can hide seam this way.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-afGtIzUotvE/UoQX_fB6yuI/AAAAAAAAAmc/mgZtDF6GLcg/s1600/1426528_10201319574616973_28970432_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-afGtIzUotvE/UoQX_fB6yuI/AAAAAAAAAmc/mgZtDF6GLcg/s640/1426528_10201319574616973_28970432_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The way I handle seam is by purposefully leaving it black. See the black line runs across the picture? There is a seam and no matter anything wrong with the game engine, this seam will blend in beautifully.</div>Don Xuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468881990877263398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-32233386896813979042013-11-10T14:31:00.000-08:002013-11-13T18:09:21.039-08:00Starting on Texturing - Week6I went on my quest to study how to do environment correctly, it's totally different from how school taught it. I cried a little bit inside to find school works were not so helpful:<br /><br />This is a picture of almost finished tunnel:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3cFQrJ148uk/UnspTLOQIcI/AAAAAAAAAlo/1Hfv9-Yx8xY/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3cFQrJ148uk/UnspTLOQIcI/AAAAAAAAAlo/1Hfv9-Yx8xY/s640/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />And thanks this awesome app CrazyBump, bump map has never been so easy!<br /><br />Look at my texture map, bump map and specular map:<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u2MftJ1CRjs/Unsp5fHikvI/AAAAAAAAAl4/u5t0ICBWxwI/s1600/obj_tunnelStraight_don.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u2MftJ1CRjs/Unsp5fHikvI/AAAAAAAAAl4/u5t0ICBWxwI/s320/obj_tunnelStraight_don.png" width="320" /></a></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WHgQw-KkQjI/Unsp0FcflwI/AAAAAAAAAlw/YOh_ybEdI_0/s1600/obj_tunnelStraight_don_NRM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WHgQw-KkQjI/Unsp0FcflwI/AAAAAAAAAlw/YOh_ybEdI_0/s320/obj_tunnelStraight_don_NRM.png" width="320" /></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bsOBX7j_f2M/UnsqMO398CI/AAAAAAAAAmA/YavE7ua5rBc/s1600/obj_tunnelStraight_don_SPEC.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bsOBX7j_f2M/UnsqMO398CI/AAAAAAAAAmA/YavE7ua5rBc/s320/obj_tunnelStraight_don_SPEC.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm now looking at&nbsp;</div><br />Don Xuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03468881990877263398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-78203772615491827652013-11-07T07:11:00.001-08:002013-11-07T07:11:31.308-08:0011/7 Class FeedbackToday we presented our week 7 scrum. Overall feedback was positive and we've made some great progress. Things we need to work on over the next few weeks are implementing sound effects, getting animations in, and texturing the world and objects.<br /><br />A lot of players seemed to be confused about what exactly the generator was, and they had trouble figuring out what to do once getting out of the intro room.<br /><br />We also need to figure out a way to convey to the player that the monster should not be shot, and can't be killed. While most people figured this out on their own, most players attacked it first.<br /><br />We also need to work on the alien's vision distance. Right now, in the dark, he can see you from very far away. Originally, we wanted the monster to be pretty blind in the pitch black parts of the game, and it would only find you if it bumped into you in the dark. However, he'd have no problem seeing you from a distance if you were standing in light.<br /><br />We need to polish up these aspects of the game, but so far so good.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-84364984442349339182013-10-29T20:16:00.000-07:002013-10-29T20:16:34.482-07:00Playtesting: Round 1!This past week was our first official round of playtesting! The results are in, our game is...<br /><br />"...too scary to keep playing!"<br /><br />At least that is what one of our primary critics told us. It was then followed up with a swift, "...more of a fan of the brightly colored, puzzle like games...", and, "...don't make fun of me!"<br /><br />Our main focus for this week's playtesting was to try and get some environment variables set in stone.<br /><br />The majority of our play testers were male, with only four females participating out of the thirteen total testers. The general consensus is that we need to have either text pop-ups or a quick "tutorial level" before throwing the player into the game, with most playtesters responding that there was not enough initial direction for them to know how to move forward. Testers also desired a darker environment, as the current settings made it too easy to see in the dark.<br /><br />With the Creature AI still being in development, the testers made sure it was known that it was way too easy to avoid and escape the Creature.<br /><br />The L.E.G. light orb mechanics drew a divide amongst the testers, with the results of being nearly a perfect 50/50 split.<br /><br />The complete results can be found <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnZljyI4mfN1dERGRV9Cb1FWVWhYcGFsMC05ellIbHc&amp;usp=drive_web#gid=0" target="_blank">here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-21585759409283269102013-10-27T16:45:00.003-07:002013-10-28T08:41:23.822-07:00New Group PoliciesDue to last weeks chaotic submission process and deadlines not being met, we have come up with the new policies below.<br /><br /><b>New Submission Policy:</b> We now have a Deliverables spreadsheet on Google Drive, which can be found <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnZljyI4mfN1dHJwYzc4cHFienZxZVRheVZfQW1NWXc&amp;usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>. Each week, your deliverables should correlate with the Gantt chart (also on Google Drive). Send your assets to whoever is listed in the "Submit To" column, by the date and time in the "Submit Time" column. The receiver should then provide feedback to the submitter, and let them know if revisions need to be made. After the asset is deemed finished, the receiver needs to sign off on the spreadsheet, and graded on a scale from 1-5, (1 is bad, 3 is average, 5 is great). This grade will not affect your Diefenbucks unless the quality is a 1 or 2.<br /><br /><b>Deadlines:</b> All art assets should be sent to Dylan by Tuesday morning. If they're not in, you'll receive a 30% reduction in your Diefenbucks for that week. If they're still not in 24 hours later (Wednesday morning), you'll receive no Diefenbucks for that week. Note: If people abuse the 30% reduction, we'll up it to 50%.<br /><br /><b>Diefenbucks Distribution: </b>The Diefenbucks we receive each week will be distributed evenly among the group, provided there were no penalties for an individual. If there are penalties, the Diefenbucks they forfeited will be evenly distributed to the other members of the group. For example: we have 8 members in our group. In one week, we earn 8/10 bucks. If every person does their work without any deadline penalties, each person receives 1 buck. However, if Evan was late on his submissions within 24 hours, he will receive 0.7 bucks and the rest of the group will get 1.04. &nbsp;If he's 24 hours or more late, he will receive no bucks, and everyone else will receive 1.14 bucks.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6255266839570978533.post-46739939914764034322013-10-23T07:03:00.001-07:002013-10-23T07:03:37.593-07:00Playtesting v1.0In preparation for the upcoming weeks of playtesting, an initial playtest survey has been created and can be found here:<br /><br /><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1JDaUylYswtn0Pn5NMZ7OwF4Ou-kYHpfGCzsctNqILjY/viewform" target="_blank">The Unseen Playtesting Survey</a><br /><br />This survey focuses mostly on environmental variables and general mechanics, so that we can determine the best setting for each variable. Later surveys will focus more on actual gameplay.<br /><br />This week, each member will be taking the survey themselves, as well as giving the survey to at least one other person.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0